BACKGROUND: Despite the expansion of conventional medical treatments for headache, many sufferers of common recurrent headache disorders seek help outside of medical settings. The aim of this paper is to evaluate research studies on the prevalence of patient use of manual therapies for the treatment of headache and the key factors associated with this patient population.

BACKGROUND: PubMed is the largest bibliographic index in the life sciences. It is freely available online and is used by professionals and the public to learn more about medical research. While primarily intended to serve researchers, PubMed provides an array of tools and services that can help a wider readership in the location, comprehension, evaluation, and utilization of medical research. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to establish the potential contributions made by a range of PubMed tools and services to the use of the database by complementary and alternative medicine practitioners.

The efficacy of physiotherapy or chiropractic treatment for patients with neck pain was analysed by reviewing 27 randomised clinical trials published 196-1995. Three different methods were employed: systematic analyses of; methodological quality; comparison of effect size; analysis of inclusion criteria, intervention and outcome according to The Disablement Process model. The quality of most of the studies was low; only one-third scored 50 or more of a possible 100 points.

Australasian Chiropractic & Osteopathy: Journal of the Chiropractic & Osteopathic College of Australasia

The pathogenesis, pathology, natural course, and in particular the treatment of lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) remains controversial. An extensive review of the scientific literature with respect to the conservative treatment of tennis elbow, revealed that acceptable epidemiological techniques of the prospective randomised control trials or case controlled studies are scarce.

BACKGROUND: Sixty percent (60%) to 80% of patients who visit chiropractic, osteopathic, or Chinese medicine practitioners are seeking pain relief. OBJECTIVES: This article aimed to identify the amount, quality, and type of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) pain research in Australia by systematically and critically reviewing the literature. METHODS: PubMed, Scopus, Australasian Medical Index, and Cochrane library were searched from their inception to July 2009.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is one of the most common health problems in adults. The impact of LBP on the individual can cause loss of health status and function related to pain in the back. To reduce the impact of LBP on adults, drug therapy is the most frequently recommended intervention. But over the last decade, a substantial number of randomized clinical trials of non-pharmacological intervention for LBP have been published.

This paper reports the results of a telephone survey of 693 respondents which was commissioned by the New Jersey Chiropractic Society. This exploratory study provides a broad-ranging and critical examination of key aspects relating to the chiropractic profession as it is practiced in New Jersey. The study concludes that chiropractic in New Jersey is a viable means of treating various disorders, but there remains much confusion and distrust among prospective and current patients as well as the threat of heightened competition from other health professionals.

A questionnaire was sent to 226 general practitioners in the Wellington region to determine the relationship between the general practitioner and complementary medicine. A 77% response rate was achieved. Twenty-four % of doctors had received training and 54% wanted further training in a complementary therapy; 27% currently practised at least one therapy. The majority of doctors (94%) knew of complementary practitioners in their locality; 77% indicated they referred to other medical practitioners for complementary therapies and 80% to nonmedical practitioners.

Physicians have traditionally paid closer attention to the competition from other medical practitioners, but have ignored competition arising from "alternative therapies" such as hypnosis, acupuncture, or chiropractic. The purpose of this article is to survey the market segment served by one such unconventional practitioner, i.e., chiropractors, with the intention of determining its likelihood as a viable market to be pursued by M.D.'s.